Fight at Mobile Church

Police in Mobile, Alabama say a pastor was tasered by his former minister of music. Daryl Riley of New Welcome Baptist Church fired Simone Moore and in a dispute over the amount of Moore's final check, Moore alledgedly tased Riley. Several church members, including Moore's own mother got involved. Officers say she was stabbed by a church deacon Harvey Hunt.

Getting to Know.. TBN

Trinity Broadcasting Network..
• Programming on over 6,000 stations in 75 countries
• Audience of 5 million houses each week in the US
• Programs are dubbed in 11 different languages
• 3 spinoff channels:Enlace USA a Spanish-language, channel JC-TV offers youth-oriented Christian programs, The Church Channel broadcasts church services
• Headquarters: Costa Mesa, California (a similar complex is located in Texas)
• Owns Trinity Music City USA, near Nashville (paid more than $13 million to acquire)
• TV Stations: 23 full-powered, 252 low-powered
• Yearly Revenue: $170 million (surpluses averagedabout $60 million a year since 1997)
• 400 employees
• The board of directors: Paul & Jan Crouch, & Ruth Brown (Paul's sister)
• Pastors on the network can solicit donations only during the last 30 seconds of a half-hour show or the last 60 seconds of a one-hour show

Paul Crouch..
• 77 years old
• Salary: over $400,000
• Parents: Pentecostal missionaries
• Homestate: Missouri• Bible College: Central Bible Institute(Springfield, Missouri)
• Former Employer: Assemblies of God in Springfield, Missouri
• Duties: Overseeing a Film Library

Jan Crouch..
• 73 years old
• Maiden name: Bethany
• Father: Assemblies of God pastor
• Salary: more than $360,000 Perks..
• The Crouches use TBN's $7 million Turbo jet to fly around the world
• The Crouches use 2 mansions in Newport Beach & about 30 other ministry-owned houses

Family..
• Paul Crouch, Jr (their oldest son) makes about $91,000 as TBN's administrative VP
• Matthew Couch (son) has gotten more than $30 million to make movies like The Omega Code

Getting to Know.. Jay Sekulow

Jay Sekulow hosts a daily radio program and heads up the Pat Robertson founded American Center For Law & Justice. Here are some of his court victories:

1987: Wins the right for religious groups to distribute material in airports if other organizations are grantedsuch access

1990: Wins the right for students to form voluntary Bible clubs in public-schools

1993: Wins the right of religious organizations to use public school facilities after-hours

1997: Wins ruling that declares unconstitutional the creation of movable classes zones around abortion clinic clients where protesters are banned

The Rapture Profiteers

Business Week takes a look at the apocalypse industry in an article here.

Church Disfellowshipped

A North Carolina Baptist group is expelling one of its members for picking a woman to serve as pastor. The Surry Baptist Association in North Carolina is dropping Mount Airy' Flat Rock Baptist Church for installing 28 year old Bailey Nelson as pastor last month.

Meryer's Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Joyce Meyer's insurance company, Essex Insurance, says it will not pay her legal bills related to a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of murder victims, killed by one of her former bodyguards. The family of the victims is suing the televangelist, saying she and her ministry are liable in the deaths. Meyer's former security chief and personal bodyguard, Christopher Coleman, was convicted for murder in the deaths of his wife and their two sons. Coleman had used the phone and computer provided by the ministry to threaten his wife. He's now serving life in prison

Bible Ministries Merge

The Bible League International and the World Bible Translation Center are merging. The Bible league will keep its headquarters in Illinois while the World Bible Translation Center will continue its translation efforts in Fort Worth, Texas. The employees will come under the Bible League.

Cyrus Tattoo

Miley Cyrus has angered some of her Christian fans. The singer sent out a photo on Twitter showing her newly tattooed finger. It says "All LOVE is equal." Some people responded to her with Bible verses against homosexuality. She tweeted back, "Where does it say in the Bible to judge others? Oh right. It doesn't. GOD is the only judge honey. 'GOD is love.'"

Getting to Know… Church of Christ Doctrine

• Recognized in 1906
• It is the most conservative of the three Restorationist streams (the other two being the Disciples of Christ and the Christian Churches)
• Baptism by immersion is an integral part of salvation
• Many in the denomination believe Bible prohibits instrumental music in worship services (only a cappella singing)
• Emphasis on New Testament Christianity, congregational independence, weekly observance of the Lord's Supper and the necessity of baptism for salvation.

Women and Faith Poll

Pollster George Barna says women are attending church and reading the Bible less over the last two decades. At the same time, the number of women reporting that they've undergone a spiritual change that remains important to them is up to 44% from 38% twenty years ago. Here are some other findings about American women.

• Do you believe in a personal God? - yes, 70%
• Do you believe in a personal devil - yes, 56%
• Is your religious faith very important to you? - yes, 63%
• Do you attend church at least once a week? - yes, 44% (For men, it's 42%. Two decades ago it was 55% for women and 48% for men)
• Do you read the Bible during a typical week? 40% (For men, its 41%. Two decades ago it was 50% for women and 40% for men)

Getting to Know.. Kenneth Copeland

Kenneth Copeland is a 74-year-old Texas televangelist who had a Top 40 hit in the late 50’s called Pledge of Love and sang on American Bandstand. Copeland later attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa. His ministry sits on a 1500-acre campus near Forth Worth and includes:

• 500-employees and a budget in the tens of millions of dollars
• a private airstrip
• an airplane hangar
• a $17.5 million jet and other aircraft
• a $6 million church-owned lakefront mansion
• an oil and natural gas company with reserves valued at $23 million last year
• Copeland maintains veto power over anything his board of directors decides.
• More than a dozen of his relatives were on the church's payroll 14 years ago.

NASCAR Prayer is now a song

You may have heard of the pastor whose unusual prayer at a NASCAR event has garnered national attention. Joe Nelms, pastor at Family Baptist Church in Lebanon, Tennessee, thanked got for his "smokin' hot wife" and ended his prayer with "Boogity, boogity, boogity. Amen." Now, the Gregory Brothers ("schmoyoho" on YouTube and best known for creating the Bed Intruder Song) has posted a song using Nelms's prayer using Auto-Tune.

Link Complaint

An atheist group is asking the state of Wisconsin to remove a link from its website to an anti-abortion group. Care Net is a faith-based ministry helping pregnant women. The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation says a state link to Care Net is a state endorsement of religion, despite a disclaimer to the contrary on the site. The state Department of Administration is reviewing the complaint.

Evangelical women rise as new ‘feminists’

The Washington Post looks at the "rise of Evangelical feminists" here.

Atheists Lawsuit over Ground Zero Cross

Church of "Swing" Sued

Dallas authorities allege a minister is operating clubs as churches. The pastor claims his religious rights are being violated. WFAA-TV has this video report.

Schuller Gets Vote Back

After getting criticized for the move, the board of the Crystal Cathedral has given founder Robert H. Schuller his voting rights back. The California megachurch is going through bankruptcy and announced there will be five new members added to the board.

Comstock Canceled

Nebraska's Comstock Music Festival (including Christian Fest) will not take place this year. Organizers blame financial trouble. The festival typically takes place each August and leaders hope to put on another one next year. Ticket holders can get a refund or tickets to the 2012 event.

Stott Dies

John Stott died in London today at the age of 90. The theologian's health had deteriorated recently. He was a primary architect of the 1974 Lausanne Covenant, which included a declaration of Evangelical beliefs. Read widely in Britain and the US, Stott never married and turned his royalties for books like Basic Christianity into scholarships for students, especially those from developing countries. He was ordained by the Church of England in 1945, serving as rector of All Souls Langham Place.

Reaction to "Smokin' Hot Wife" Prayer